The best Google Assistant devices: Speakers and TVs with Assistant inside

We pick out the top tech with the voice assistant built-in

If you want to build a home controlled by Google Assistant, the best place to start is by choosing a controlling device with the voice assistant built in.

Whether that's a smart speaker with far-field microphones, from Google or its partners; or a new smart display or an Android TV with a mic in the remote. This will be the piece of tech you actually command Assistant through.

In case there's any confusion, that's different from home gadgets and appliances that are compatible with Google Assistant - these only become voice controlled when you have a controller device to connect and talk to.

The full Google range

The original Google Home is still worth considering. It looks inoffensive, with a range of colourful fascias; it's very beginner friendly to set up (with multi room support); and the price is nice. Sound quality, though, is better elsewhere; it's not bad here but depending on the size of the room and how discerning your ears are, you might want to pay more for audio.

At the highest end of Google's Home family is the Max, its premium speaker that goes all-in on punchy, loud, room-filling sound. It is indeed rich and powerful with Bluetooth support but it's also fairly expensive, particularly if you want to pick up two for stereo sound, and the design leaves a little to be desired. Still, if you want a Google-built speaker worthy of your favourite records, this is your only option.

The Google Home Mini is fun. It's a pebble-shaped smart speaker, and the most affordable of Google's own range. As well as blending into your decor with grey, black and coral soft fabric finishes, it makes a neat second speaker around the house. Its Achilles' heel? It's not a powerful sound and there's no 3.5mm out to your existing speakers, same as its rival the Amazon Echo Dot.

Third-party Google Assistant devices

Like Alexa, Google Assistant is starting to turn up in more and more smart speakers built by other companies.Google Assistant is coming to the Sonos One and the new Sonos Beam soundbar later in 2018 too. Here's a few options that are on sale now.

Panasonic's GA10 is a home-friendly smart speaker that'll fit right in if you already have floorstanding speakers in your living room. The shelf speaker comes in black and white colourways with a metal base. Panasonic's focus, though, seems to be on audio quality with two 20mm tweeters and an 80mm woofer inside.

Sony LF-S50G

Sony is developing its own voice technology with its Xperia Agent program but its first smart speaker, the HomePod-esque LF-S50G comes with Google Assistant built in. The Sony is IPX3 so splashproof for use in the kitchen or bathroom; it has an LED clock display, a two-way facing speaker which Sony says will give you 360 degree sound and there's touch free gesture controls for music playback. The LF-S50G also acts as a Bluetooth speaker but there's no Spotify Connect compatibility.

TicHome Mini

The Tichome Mini offers something a bit different. It's an IPX6 splashproof Assistant powered speaker that might remind you of the Google Home Mini as it's small, puck-shaped and comes in a variety of pastel colours with a leather carry strap. It's portable, with six hours of battery life, and has one-tap NFC/Bluetooth pairing too. Perfect for bathrooms, kitchens and balconies.

The Polk Assist is a bit larger than the standard Google Home, but it's also a much better speaker, offering multi-room audio and Bluetooth support on top of access to the Assistant. If you want to improve the audio quality over Google Home without breaking the bank, the Polk Assist offers superior sound quality. However, think small to medium sized rooms - any larger, and you'll want something more powerful to fill the space.

You might not have heard of it but the Hogar Milo makes the cut as one of the most interesting speakers with Google Assistant built in because it also packs in both Zigbee and Z-Wave support turning it into an Amazon Echo Plus-rivalling smart home hub.

By supporting the two main smart home protocols it means the Milo can talk to Zigbee and Z-Wave compatible light bulbs, sensors and devices without having to install various hubs around the house. The Echo Plus, by comparison, only supports Zigbee. The Milo will be available from March 2018.

LG's first smart speaker may not be the prettiest, but it does give you Google Assistant smarts and audio developed by sound experts Meridian. Coming in charcoal black and resting at 8.3-inches tall and 5.3-inches wide, this bulky, budget customer is able to deliver some serious bass.

That makes it a solid option for anybody who wants Google in their home but not through the sound-weak options in the Home range (or the costly Home Max), with the ThinQ WK7 providing support for Voice Match, multi-room audio and all the other usual Assistant tricks.

JBL's Link series of Bluetooth speakers now come with Google Assistant built in. Depending on your budget and what you're after, you can choose from the Link 10, Link 20 (both portable and waterproof) and big ol' Link 300 and Link 500 which has a really powerful, room-filling sound.

What's neat is that unlike most third-party integrations of Alexa and Google Assistant from Bluetooth speakers, you can use the wake word for far-field recognition or a dedicated button to trigger the voice assistant. There are four dots that light up on the front to showing the speaker is listening.

Nest Cam IQ Indoor

Yes, we intentionally put a smart home security camera in this list. Because Nest (fairly) recently announced that, via a software upgrade for customers in the US only for now, the camera effectively turns into a Google Assistant smart speaker. Cool, ey?

It works because the Cam IQ Indoor already has both a microphone and speaker on board for its two way audio - now you can bark commands at it as you would a Google Home.

The lush Sonos One offers a mighty sound for a smart speaker this price and though it's currently Alexa-only on voice controls, official Google Assistant support is coming. When? Well, it's due to roll out by the end of 2018, we just don't know when yet.

The Sonos One isn't the only device from the company in line to receive smarts, with the Beam sound bar also confirmed to be receiving Google Assistant integration. Again, frustratingly, we don't know when that will be, but until it does roll out you can enjoy sound from the Beam's single tweeter, three passive radiators and four full-range woofers. There‚Äôs also a five-mic array for voice control, which will hopefully make it easier for Assistant to hear you when it does eventually arrive.

As well as voice-only smart speakers, Google announced at CES in January that a new series of smart displays with Google Assistant inside will be arriving in 2018. Sony and LG were named in the announcement, so look out for those later in the year, but Lenovo and JBL have been the first to show their cards. Expect this area to boom over the next few months.

The Google Home Hub is the first Smart Display built by Google, and it's a tiny thing. Its 7-inch display makes it smaller than the speakers below, but it all comes together for the best showcase of this category, in our opinion. It's also the only Smart Display without a camera - which may be good or bad, depending on your preference - but in its place is an ambient EQ sensor that adjusts the display to the light around it. The result is that photos look great. On the downside, the sound quality isn't as good as the JBL Link View.

The Lenovo Smart Display looks very tablet-y for starters. It's on sale in 8-inch and 10-inch models, with both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, a Full HD screen, a pair of 10W speakers and the ability to show you results from Assistant queries. There's also a stand in soft grey or bamboo finishes. As you'd expect, it's slightly more expensive than an equivalent non-screened smart speaker,

JBL's Link series of speakers - like the Link 10, 20, 300 and 500 - all come with Google Assistant built in. The JBL Link View, meanwhile, is the second Google Assistant powered smart display that we know about and it looks a lot more pleasing than Lenovo's efforts.

With an 8-inch screen, a 5MP front-facing camera up front (for video calls, it comes with a privacy cover) and two 10W speakers either side, and it's in this sound quality where the Link View trounces the other two.

Archos Hello

The latest smart display, from Archos, is also due this summer. The Hello will come in 7-inch and 8.4-inch screen sizes - with HD and Full HD resolution screens respectively - and will run Google Assistant when it launches. There's a 4,000 mAh battery on board as well as 16GB of storage, a 5MP camera and four far-field microphones.

TV sets and set top/streaming boxes with Android TV built in all allow you to control what's showing with your voice - not via a wake word but by either pressing a mic button on the remote control or navigating to the voice button on the Android TV OS.

Expect to see Google Assistant in more TV sets and add-ons this year, including from big names like LG but here's what it's already available in. For the full rundown, read our comprehensive Android TV guide.

Sony Bravia

Sony's Bravia TVs since 2015 have run on Android TV with Google Assistant voice controls built into the OS and Sony has confirmed its 2018 sets will do the same (with added Alexa). When you set up the telly you add your Google account and as well as opening apps searching for TV shows and movies (across Google's apps, not within for instance Netflix) your Sony TV will show up in your Google Home app and you can use voice to ask internet queries and control smart home kit as usual.

Philips OLED

It's much the same set up for owners of recent Philips OLED TVs including the 7000, 8000 and 9000 Series which all come with Ambilight. If you want to use voice with both the remote - which has a handy full keyboard - and your phone, download the Philips TV Remote app. Android TVs also have built-in Google Cast so you can send videos from apps like Netflix, Spotify, BBC and Google Play Movies + TV from your phone or tablet.

Sharp Aquos

The last major TV manufacturer that's already selling Android TVs is Sharp - its Aquos range which goes from 45-inch right up to 80-inch (in 8K) has built-in Assistant voice controls, Google Cast and all the usual Google apps - YouTube, Play Movies etc. Plus you can hook up as many as four wireless controllers to play Android games.

Nvidia Shield TV

The Nvidia Shield TV can stream 4K HDR video, has Assistant-powered voice search, Cast support and comes with an optional Shield controller for Android gaming. This has recently been given a revamp, with a new, customisable home screen that moves movies, games and apps to the forefront. See also the similarly gaming-focused Razer Forge Android TV box.